


Two Little Boys

by SWAWindsong



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Blood, M/M, Major Character Injury, War, song and a ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 20:31:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5305820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SWAWindsong/pseuds/SWAWindsong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've known each other since they were young, but they eventually grew up and learned how dangerous the world really was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Little Boys

“Hey, Alfred! Watch this!” 

There was a peel of laughter that rang in Alfred ears as Jett tore across the room with his very own toy solider and horse. Alfred chased after him, his own riotous laughter spilling over his lips. 

“Hurry! We have to catch the bad guys!”

“Hurry? You’re the one that’s falling behind, Alfred!”

“Shut up, Jett.”

“Children, please don’t run inside.” Arthur said. The daycare’s supervisor was strict, and Jett and Alfred had started to ignore his commands. Instead of stopping, they continued to chase each other and pretend they were vanquishing evil from the world. 

“I’m serious, stop that or I’ll put you in time out.”

“Ohh noooo, not time out.” Jett said, over exaggerating how upset he was by pulling his cheeks down to further his pout. That would buy them a little bit of time at least. Alfred continued to giggle and ran around the room as fast as he could. Horses needed to run after all! What good was it if the heroes couldn’t make a clean getaway on horseback? 

“If you two don’t stop you’ll…”

Arthur was cut off by a loud smack that caused him and Alfred to both turn towards the noise. 

“…break your new toys,” Arthur finished, putting his drink down and standing up. He walked over to where Jett was now sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. Alfred stayed to the side, watching.

From the looks of it, Jett had banged his head on the overhand of the countertop. His toy horse and solider laid on the ground beside him. Arthur managed to coax Jett into lifting his head from his arms. Alfred’s heart sank as he saw the cut across the bridge of his nose. 

“Aww, it’s not very deep now. Don’t cry. We’ll get you all bandaged up.” 

“I am not crying!” Jett shouted, but even Alfred could see the tears forming at the edges of his eyes. 

“Come on, to the bathroom with you. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Jett wiped his eyes as Arthur led him out of the room, complaining the whole time about how he wasn’t crying because he hit his head. It took a moment, but Alfred eventually realized the real reason Jett must had started crying. 

He walked over to the counter where Jett’s toys were still laying on the floor, and Alfred realized he had been right. The crack had come from the horse’s head snapping off, not from hitting his head. It had to be the horse too. Jett loved horses. 

Alfred looked at the toy in his own hand. He considered giving it to Jett for a moment, but he wanted the toy as well. There didn’t seem to be a good solution. Giving the toy to Jett would make Jett happy, but his own solider would still need a ride. The opposite would be true if Alfred kept the horse to himself though.

It didn’t take long before Arthur came back with Jett in tow and a fresh bandage across his nose. Alfred watched as Jett came back to join him, tears still threatening to spill over onto his face. Jett kept wiping them away before that could happen though. His face was pulled in a scowl as he tried to stop himself from crying. 

Maybe Alfred couldn’t give up his horse completely, but they could certainly share. 

“Look, Jett! My horse is strong enough to carry the both of us! We’ll have to ride together if we want to catch the bad guys!”

With that, Jett’s scowl was replaced by a large grin, although his cheeks were still stained with red. The two took turns making the horse run around the room, and they took a little more care than they had before. They didn’t want to break the second horse after all. 

“Do you think we’ll ever get to catch the real bad guys?” Jett asked. Alfred thought for a moment. He had heard his parents talking about the army soldiers, saying they were the real heroes of their country.

“Maybe we could join the army when we grow up! Like in the movies!” 

“Yeeaahh that’d be really cool!” Jett said. 

The two of them day-dreamed for the rest of the afternoon until their parents came to pick them up. Leaving Jett and going back home was always difficult. It wasn’t that Alfred didn’t like home, it was just a lot more fun to play with Jett. He watched the cars pull up into the driveway beside each other, Jett’s mom parked right next to his. 

“Hey, Alfred?”

“Yeah.” 

“Thanks for sharing your toy after I had already broken mine.”

“Of course, dude! Did you think I’d let you cry in front of Artie? Besides, we had dasmals in diss dresses that needed rescuing!” 

The two of them parted with the promise of seeing each other the next day at day care.

***

The war raged on. Alfred shouted commands to his brigade as the gray dust swirled around him. It didn’t matter how long he’d been out here, Alfred never stopped day-dreaming of how nice it would feel to be clean again. He almost wanted that more than a hamburger at times. Almost.

He reigned his horse around to face his troops. They were fighting a losing battle this time around. Too many of the men and women had spent too long out on the front lines. They needed the back-up troops to finally arrive and replace those who were getting tired of fighting. But, as the Colonel of the brigade, Alfred was responsible for keeping morale as high as he could, no matter the circumstances.

The only thing that kept him going was knowledge that Jett was supposed to be in this battle as well. They had been separated soon after joining the army together. It had been years since he’d seen him last and he sure as hell missed his best friend. Alfred kept his eyes peeled, but he hadn’t spotted Jett yet. That was ok though. He was sure he’d see him soon. Besides, Alfred heard Jett was a Colonel as well, so Jett was likely busy with his own troops. There would be time afterwards, win or lose.

Shouts and angry cries pierced the air when it wasn’t taken over by sounds of gun shots. It was going to take a miracle to bring the troops together at this rate. 

“Easy, girl.” Alfred said patting his horse’s neck. The mare was fast, but not always the easiest to control. It was crazy that the army had had to resort to using some of the local’s horses. But they were low on tanks and the commanders had to get around somehow. Alfred was certain they hadn’t used horses since World War II. It had been a real pain in the ass learning to ride the creature.

Without warning a gunshot rang though the air, and Alfred scrambled to try and control his horse. But, she wasn’t having it this time rearing straight up and throwing Alfred from her back. The wind was knocked out of him with such force he was sure he’d never breathe again. He soon saw why his horse had abandoned him though. 

A dark, hot liquid was coloring his uniform, spreading slowly across his torso and all the way up his chest. That was closer than he thought it was. He hadn’t even realized he’d been shot. 

The mass of bodies and troops began to thin around Alfred, and he realized he’d have to get up soon or he would be exposed. As he tried to sit up, pain shot through his stomach down into his feet. Alfred cried out, but he refused to give in. He managed to force himself into a sitting position, and from there he could see the battle field spread out before him. 

As soon as he was settled, another bullet drove itself into his shoulder. This time he did feel it. The shoulder burned like it was on fire and Alfred was forced back to the ground. 

At least here he would be harder to hit again. They must have been targeting him. 

There was another loud bang, and a cry that rang out from behind Alfred. Something must have happened, but he couldn’t see what was going on anymore. The troops began running past him again, this time towards the enemy. Alfred tried to hold a hand up so maybe someone would help him, or at least they wouldn’t run over him. 

No one stopped though. He couldn’t say he blamed them. It wasn’t like he was going to be much help now anyway. 

While he lay in the dirt, a disturbing thought crossed his mind. What if he never got to see Jett again? Alfred tried to shout and get someone’s attention, but there was too much going on around him. He had just about given up when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

“Alfred!” 

“Jett?” 

The sound of hoofbeats stopped dead above Alfred’s head, making him flinch in fear of being trampled. 

“Who else, Bro? I can’t just leave you here like this, now can I? Come on.”

Jett dismounted and began to help Alfred get up. It soon became apparent that Alfred wasn’t going to be able to get on the horse though. Lucky for him, Jett had a few tricks up his sleeve. 

With a single command, Jett got the horse to lay down next to Alfred. Alfred frowned in response. That wasn’t cool, he couldn’t even stop his horse from throwing him in the midst of battle. Shit, and he had wanted to look really cool when he saw Jett again. Getting shot and having to be rescued was decidedly uncool. He’d have to find something to level the playing field.

“Hey, what happened to your nose?” Might as well ask, hopefully it was embarrassing. Jett smiled in response as he helped Alfred into the saddle. With moment that passed it was becoming harder and harder to move. 

“Um, you know, doing something awesome and definitely not dumb at all. It definitely was not because I tripped and fell.”

Alfred rolled his eyes. At least it was something embarrassing so now he didn’t feel so bad about the horse thing. Jett climbed on behind Alfred, and urged the horse to stand up and start running back toward base. The lurching motion sent a wave of nausea through Alfred’s stomach. Yes, a shower sounded much better than food right now. 

It seemed like forever that he they were riding back to the main camp. Alfred wondered how far they had advanced. Jett kept pushing the horse forward, and with each step Alfred got sleepier and his eyes started to flutter shut. Thanks to the warm steadiness of Jett’s chest pressed against his back, it began to feel like he was wrapped in a cozy blanket. 

As they continued to ride back the world started to get fuzzier, but the pain in his side and shoulder seemed to lessen. Alfred thought he heard Jett call out to him, trying to keep him awake, but it was in vain. He blacked out before they reached the base. 

***

“You all can go in now. He’s still coming out of the anesthesia, so he’s not conscious of his surroundings right now. Still, I think it’s best if someone he knows is there when he does wake up,” the nurse told Jett, Matthew, and Gilbert as she led him down the bleach white hallways towards the room where Alfred was being kept.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Jett had assumed Alfred would survive. It would take more than a few bullets to stop Alfred from wearing down the whole world with his flashy smile and godforsaken confidence.

The three walked with the nurse and she rambled off a few more words about Alfred’s condition, but Jett was finding it hard to concentrate. The hallways echoed with their footsteps and the fluorescent lights reminded him of the old days back in school. They stopped at a large wooden door and the nurse coated her hands with sanitizer, prompting the other three to follow suit. Then, she knocked on the door and opened it just a crack.

“Alfred, you have visitors!” She said in a cheery voice, then opening the door all the way. Jett stepped across the threshold and beyond the curtain that blocked the view of the bed. Seeing Alfred laying there hooked up to all the monitors punched Jett in the gut. He was always so vibrant, this didn’t feel right. The nurse stayed by the door to watch. Jett walked over and sat down in the chair next to Alfred’s bed while Matthew and Gilbert stood at the foot of the bed. Even though the nurse said he wasn’t aware of his surroundings yet, Alfred eyes followed Jett across the room.

“You’re really pretty, you know that.” The statement startled Jett. Gilbert started snickering followed by Matthew punching him in the shoulder. It wasn’t something Jett had expect Alfred to say. Maybe he really wasn’t aware of his surroundings.

“Alfred?”

“You like…a really handsome version of this kid I used to know.” With that sentence Jett was clued in on to what was going on. The post-operative anesthesia still hadn’t worn off. While Alfred could talk, he had no idea what he was saying and wouldn’t remember a thing when he woke up.

“Alfred…you’re talking about me. I’m right here. Gilbert, shut up.”

“I used to have the biggest crush on him you know.” At that the nurses, who were standing in the doorway, busted out laughing and Jett was trying not to spontaneously combust. Whether it was from the shock of the confession or the sheer hilarity of the situation, he had no idea. Damn, he wished he had been recording this much already. Jett fished the phone from his pocket and tapped the screen to ensure this glorious moment was caught on record for life.

“Oh, but don’t tell him that. He can’t know.” Jett resisted the urge to say, ‘You could have said something instead of dating half the women in our school, you half-wit.’ Jett had never been sure, and he hadn’t wanted to ruin their friendship back then, so he had kept his mouth shut. Gilbert’s snickering became more obnoxious as Alfred continued.

“He had the puh-rettiest green eyes. And he made everything fun again. We told each other we were gonna grow up to be heroes and save the world one day. I bet he made a damn fine hero.” Alfred spent the next few seconds giggling and smiling to himself. By the end of his speech, even Gilbert has stopped giggling. Jett knew it was probably because of his own expression. It was all Jett could do to keep himself from tearing up. Yes, part it was still hilarious, but they were also words he had wanted to hear his entire life. The nurses had also shut up in the hallway, and Jett thought he heard one sniffle. 

“Hey, could you do me a favor?” Alfred asked.

“Sure.” Jett’s voice cracked. Dammit, he was going to fucking hold it together or so help him. He covered it up with a laugh.

“If I don’t make it, could you find him that I always loved him.” 

Jett hissed as he tried desperately to stop the tears from getting large enough to spill down his face. His throat constricted and he stopped breathing, anything to force his emotions from taking over. From the blurry corner of his eyes, Jett managed to stop the camera on his phone. That was enough for now. 

The next moment, Alfred blinked a few times and recognition spread across his face. Jett hoped against hope that his face wouldn’t betray that he’d damn near cried. 

“Hey, man. Welcome back.” Jett began, keeping his voice as steady as he could.

“What happened?” Alfred asked as he looked around the room, trying to gain his bearings. Thank god Gilbert and Matthew weren’t giving anything away. It was probably the first time in Gilbert’s life that he had the decency to be serious. It took him a while, but Alfred finally looked down at his chest and noticed the bandages covering his torso. 

“Holy shit. Did I almost die?”

“Nah, you’re not that cool.” Jett laughed, but it was difficult to be his usual silly self when such sobering words were still making his head spin. Because they had been the truth about how Alfred felt. Their whole life, Jett had never thought Alfred would even consider him that way. A star quarterback on the Varsity team, class representative, voted best smile AND best couple with one of the girls from their class. Jett didn’t even remember which girl it had been that year.

“How are you feeling?” Matthew asked. 

“Like I’ve been shot, what do you think? Hey…what are they carrying on about out there?” Jett turned around and saw the nurses were flitting over their personal phones and summoning more nurses to the outside of Alfred’s room. Really, couldn’t they be just the tiniest bit professional? Still, Alfred was going to find out eventually, and Jett was sure as hell going to beat Gilbert to the punch.

“Soooo, you know those videos we used to watch together of the kids. The ones where they had their wisdom teeth removed and they were still affected by the anesthesia?”

“Uhh…” It took a moment for the words to get through the dummy’s thick skull, but Alfred’s face paled when he finally understood. Jett’s laughter rang through the room when Alfred buried his face in his hands and turned bright red.

“Oh God, what did I say?”

“That’s for me to know, and for you to never, ever find out.” Jett made a big show of shoving his cell phone in his pocket, making sure Alfred got the hint that he had recorded it. 

For someone who had been recently been shot, almost died, and had needles sticking out of his arms, Alfred was still impossible to wrestle with. It didn’t help that Gilbert was once again beside himself with laughter. Matthew stood silently with his head in his hands. 

When Alfred did get a hold of his phone, Jett just watched his expression with the biggest smile he’d ever had. It was good to be back with his childhood friend once again.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I can improve anything! This was for an anonymous individual who requested America and Australia to the song "Two Little Boys" by Rolf Harris. It was a lot of fun to write though.


End file.
